Denzel Washington 47th AFI Life Achievement Award
2 Video Views·Sep 14, 2024
I'm up here to say thank you to God for giving me this ability, for blessing me, for shaping me,
for chastising me, for teaching me, for punishing me, for allowing me to be a vessel
and touch people around the world. I want to thank AFI, Cicely Tyson, Ed Zwick, Spike Lee,
Carl Franklin, Alan Nirop. My mother, she's 95 years old now. She's something else. She's tough.
Everything ends with, because I'm your mother, that's why. Shut up. Still, still, the other day.
Because I'm your mother, that's why. Shut up. To my father who taught me by example how to be a gentle
man, the most important person in my life. 40 years, 40 years of sacrifice,
40 years of forgiveness. She taught me about faith, spirituality, love, real love,
unwavering love. In spite of myself, I would not be alive without Pauletta Washington. I
wouldn't be alive. Small minds discuss other people, gossip. Good minds discuss events.
Great minds discuss ideas. I was Eleanor Roosevelt. I was also Pauletta's father,
my father-in-law. He was a great man. He taught me so much about what being a man really is.
I want to end the night with a short video that we recorded of Pauletta's father 30 years ago
that my son Malcolm gave me, an AFI graduate. Just a short 30-second video, and this is what
Pauletta's father had to say 30 years ago. We were put here for a reason. God created man.
God intends for us to love all mankind. By being in a loving mood, caring for one another,
that's our purpose for life. We should care for one another, and we should love one another.
In this Twitter tweet, meme, mean world that we've created for our children,
the least we can do is consider what we've done and think about the young people, the future,
and individually, collectively do the best we can to try and turn this thing around. I blame no one.
I look in the mirror. On the other side of it, what an opportunity we have because tomorrow's
the first day of the rest of our lives, so what an opportunity we have to practice what he preached.
Good night.